


An Inextinguishable Light

by InkheartFirebringer



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: AU - Beth is a ghost, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, By the wendigos and by Josh's shennigans, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Happy(-ish) story, I promise, Not if she has anything to say about it, She's really not pleased, Things are not going to pan out like they did in canon, for real this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2018-07-22 14:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7442737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkheartFirebringer/pseuds/InkheartFirebringer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wendigos aren't the only spirits on Blackwood Mountain. Or, the AU where Josh isn't responsible for the ghostly sightings in the lodge, and Beth is fiercely determined that the mountain will not claim any more victims. Ghost!Beth AU, with canon pairings, plus Josh x Sam and Sam x Beth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dead, but Never Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Until Dawn.
> 
> A/N: Don’t worry! I’ve not abandoned ‘And All the World Comes Tumbling Down’ – I’ve actually been working on this story for nearly as long, but was hoping to finish it before I starting posting. xD However, in light of the amount of dissertation work I have, I probably won’t be able to work on AATWCTD until the end of July so I thought I’d give you a chapter of ‘An Inextinguishable Light’ to tide you over until then. (And maybe the other completed chapter for this story too. xD) Ultimately this story probably won’t be as long as AATWCTD and will be happy(-ish) despite the premise. :)

* * *

_My ghost/ Where’d you go?/_

_I can’t find you in the body sleeping next to me/_

_My ghost/ Where’d you go?/_

_What happened to the soul that you used to be?_

– Ghost, by Halsey

 

Beth didn’t realise right away that she was dead. Of course, following the sound of your sister’s crying, to find her cradling your corpse helped enlighten you pretty fast.

Beth could only sit miserably beside her twin, listening to her quiet sobs echo in the dark cavern and wish fervently, desperately, that she could still reach out and hold Hannah. But her hands were insubstantial, transparent and gently outlined in shimmering silver. If only Hannah could _see_ her – but her sister was ignorant of her presence, so close beside her, a gentle glow of silver light in dark.

So she was forced to just sit and listen to the sound of her sister’s grief, her own chest aching at the sight of Hannah so undone.

“I’m sorry, Beth, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault…” Hannah whispered, her voice weak and exhausted from crying.

“No, Hannah, no,” Beth murmured, reaching out instinctively. Her hand, instead of coming to rest on Hannah’s shoulder, went straight through, and she recoiled in both shock and disappointment. _What did you expect you idiot, you’re dead._

 “It’s okay, Hannah, it’s okay,” she said instead, as reassuring as she could. “I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault.”

She kept speaking to her sister, in the vain hope that some way, somehow she would eventually get through to her. Above them, the clouds slowly rolled away as the snowstorm abated and the moon came out, shining down through the hole in the roof upon the three figures sitting in the dark; the still-living girl, the body of her twin, and the soul that had once inhabited that body, a faint glimmer of silver invisible to the sister that mourned her so deeply.

Somewhere in the east, the sky was lightening; dawn was approaching, and with it, a storm of an entirely different kind.

xxx

It took three days before Beth was able to bring herself to leave Hannah’s side. Three days in which no help came; three days in which she followed Hannah dragging herself slowly, painfully, through the darkness of the abandoned mine shafts, handicapped by her broken leg, and seething at her own inability to help her sister in any way.

(Three days during which she watched Hannah dig a grave for her body with only a broken shovel and sheer determination.)

“I’m going see what’s taking them so long.” Beth took a deep breath. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.” It still felt like a betrayal, to walk away from her exhausted sister curled up in the dark. _But I need to find out what the hell is going on. Why has no one come for Hannah yet?_

It wasn’t long until she discovered why. These mines were a _maze._ It was only the fact that she could walk through walls now (and seemed to possess a strange instinct she didn’t quite understand, that seemed to tug _up, up_ , towards the surface) that led her to the very top levels of the mines and the exit out to the mountainside, which was _swarming_ with people.

The florescent colours of the emergency services, the barking of search and rescue dogs and the din of human voices, calling out and yelling instructions; Beth could only gape, stunned after the deathly silence of the mines.

 _There’s so many of you!_ She wanted to cry out. _How could you not have found my sister yet?_ But she knew why. Hannah was at the very bottom of a labyrinth-like set of tunnels, in a mine that was dangerously unstable judging by all the condemned signs everywhere.

 _What if they never find her?_ The small, horrible thought pierced through her like a needle, and she shook her head, trying to banish it. _No. I won’t let it happen. I’ll be the worst poltergeist ever if I have to. I’ll **force** them to notice me and I’ll lead them to Hannah. Ghosts do it all the time in the movies, right? How hard can it be affect the physical world?_

xxx

Very hard, was the answer. Despite her best, and increasingly desperate efforts, Beth couldn’t get so much as a piece of paper to twitch. Her new goal consumed her; she spent all her time following Hannah around, trying to interact with various objects around her, with periodic checks on the progress of the search and rescue teams.

(Once she had gone back up to the lodge but never again. The sight of her parents and Josh – and Sam, loyal Sam – so tired and grief-stricken, had driven a spike of pain through her heart so intense that it had driven her away immediately).

It was the twenty-second day before Beth lost her temper with the search and rescue teams. She had been trailing two men with a sniffer dog further and further down through the mines, her heart becoming lighter and more hopeful with every step they took, _maybe this is it, they’ll find Hannah, they’ve got to –_

Then they stopped. Consulted a map, made a mark, turned around and left. Beth stayed frozen to spot, watching their light bob away through the dark in disbelief. Then she screamed in helpless, impotent rage.

An answering scream made her abruptly fall silent in shock. It had been a terrifying, inhuman sound, and even in her immaterial form, it still sent a bolt of fear through her.

 _What the hell…_ she padded cautiously around the corner of the tunnel and came face-to-face with something out of a nightmare. Long, sinewy limbs, all stretched out and elongated; horrible milky-white eyes and a mouth full of vicious, razor-like teeth.

Beth froze, paralysed with shock and horror, as its head tilted jerkily from side to side, like some great, grotesque bird. She could see a strange, insubstantial red glow flickering and pulsing just underneath its skin, as it looked around, seemingly looking for something. For one horrified moment, she thought that it was looking for _her_ , as its dead, white gaze fell upon her and remained there for several, long terrible seconds. Then it screamed again, and darted away with unsettling, jerky, scuttling movements, disappearing down the tunnel.

Beth blew out an unnecessary breath of relief and the tension was just starting to leave her body when she remembered that monster was down here with Hannah, who most definitely was not an intangible spirit. Beth sprinted off in search of her twin, terror and horror filling her with equal measure.

xxx

Beth stuck close to her sister after that, refusing to leave her side. _Not that I’ll be much help if it does come back,_ she thought bitterly. Her efforts to interact with the physical world had been utterly futile – although she _had_ noticed during one of her attempts that when she was really focusing on trying to touch something, she could see strange flickers of silvery light under Hannah’s skin, the same colour as her own insubstantial body.

Regardless, they hadn’t encountered the monster again. Beth had heard it several times, a distant, horrible shriek in the darkness of the mines. She thought her sister might have heard it too; her head had jerked up in alarm, although it had quickly sank back down again, Hannah not having the energy to waste on unnecessary movement.

 _It’s entirely possible she thinks she imagined it._ Beth bit her lip. Hannah had been steadily less coordinated and coherent over the past couple of days; not that that was surprising. Her sister hadn’t eaten for thirty days. Beth wished uselessly that she could pick things up, so she could bring her a cereal bar or _something…_

Beth was aware of the soft scratching of pencil on paper in the background. Hannah had found a few scraps of paper and a stub of pencil in amongst some old miners’ gear, before she had retreated here. Her broken leg finally seemed to have given out, and now she was curled on a bare patch of earth next to Beth’s grave, within easy reach of the eerie, black underground lake that was her only source of water.

“I’m sorry, Beth, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Hannah’s faint mumbling reached her ears again and Beth wanted to cry. _It’s not your fault, Hannah._

She watched as her twin sat up and dragged herself shakily over to her grave…and started digging at the loose soil. _What…?_ She frowned.

“I can’t – I can’t – I’m sorry, Beth, I’m sorry, I’m _dying –_ ” Hannah was crying weakly again.

Beth could only stare, the awful realisation slowly stealing over her as her twin brushed away the dirt covering her face and upper torso. Her body had taken on a horrible greenish cast, the flesh starting to decompose but Hannah was desperate –

It wasn’t until her sister’s teeth closed over her body’s limp forearm that Beth’s state of shock broke and she fled, with the horrible sound of tearing flesh echoing in her ears.

xxx

It took Beth two days to come to terms with it and to think past the first emotional impact. _It’s only logical,_ she reasoned as she retraced her steps. _There’s nothing else to eat down here, and I don’t **want** Hannah to die. _Some part of her was still horrified but it wasn’t like she couldn’t understand why Hannah had done it. _And I know Hannah. She’s going to spend the rest of her life torturing herself with guilt over this, which I don’t exactly want her to do either._

It wasn’t long until she found her twin, exactly where she had left her, curled up on the underground lakeshore. Beth studiously avoided looking at the open grave next to Hannah, at the pale lifeless body with chunks of flesh missing from its left arm, and focused on her sister, her _living_ sister –

A flicker of red light pulsed briefly under Hannah’s skin. Beth halted immediately, a feeling of deep unease crawling up her spine. “Hannah?” she asked uncertainly, despite knowing her sister couldn’t hear her anymore. _Wrong!_ An unfamiliar instinct was screaming at her. _Run!_

“But I’m _dead_ ,” Beth muttered redundantly to herself. “What could hurt me?”

Then Hannah stirred, raising her head, and everything slid into horrifying, sharp-edged clarity. On the surface, it was immediately apparent something was wrong with Hannah – her eyes were sunken and clouded, her cheekbones stood out like two razor blades in a face that was suddenly far too thin, and most of all, the skin around her lips were twisted and warped, pulling back to reveal lengthening teeth.

 All of this was horrifying enough on its own – and some part of her cried out in awful comprehension, recognising the similarities between Hannah and that creature lurking down here – but it wasn’t what made Beth go cold all over, feeling true fear for the first time since she had died.

It was the alien _thing_ looking out at her from behind Hannah’s unseeing eyes, looking _straight at her_ like nothing or no one had since she’d fallen from the cliff. Beth barely had time to think that she’d rather be ignored for the rest of eternity, than be noticed by whatever this thing was that was trespassing in her sister’s body, before the ethereal red light suddenly pulsed under Hannah’s skin, stronger and brighter than before, and then _reached for her._

Beth’s shock delayed her reaction for half a second and before she could move, what felt like claws sank impossibly into her insubstantial body and her senses were swamped by a roiling, burning sea of red, malevolent _hunger._ Endless _hungerhungerhunger,_ and under that, pure black malice, as thick and clinging and poisonous as tar –

With a stupendous effort of will, Beth tore herself away, and fled.  The thing in Hannah’s body let out a terrible howl with its stolen vocal chords and the sound echoed through the tunnels, chasing Beth all the way up to the surface as she sprinted for the safety of the light and open air.


	2. Solitude (Is Not Always a Good Thing)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much guys for the feedback! ^_^ I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far, and hopefully you’ll continue to do so. :)

* * *

Beth kept her distance after that. Somehow the spirit inhabiting her sister’s body had _injured_ her – puncture marks from claws had appeared in her ethereal form and were slow in closing up. Damage to a physical body was one thing; she had no idea what the limits for healing for a spiritual body were.

So she kept her distance, watching in agonised helplessness, as her sister warped and changed more every day. There was nothing she could do, but she couldn’t _do nothing_ either – so she lingered, keeping a silent, painful vigil until the day the last flicker of Hannah’s silver light was completely swallowed up by red.

The-thing-that-was-once-Hannah stretched, as if working out the kinks in its new, elongated body, and then let out a terrible, piercing shriek, before leaping up the nearest rocky wall, scuttling up into the shadows like the nightmare creature it was; Beth left the mines, feeling like her heart was tearing in two. She wished she could cry, as she rarely had in life, if only for the release it would bring.

xxx

Beth roamed the mountainside for a long while after that, seeking solace in emptiness and the beauty of the snowbound peak. She could go places she had never been able to in a body, no longer constrained by cold, or hunger, or exhaustion, the snow glittering under her weightless feet, the stars glimmering in an endless velvet-black sky far overhead.

When she finally came back down to the area around her parents’ lodge, it didn’t take her long to discover that the building was in complete darkness. With a start, she realised she had no idea how much time had passed while she’d been wandering in a haze of grief.

It didn’t take her long to scout out the area and discover that while there were traces of human activity, like forgotten police tape attached to trees here and there, it was clear there no one had been here recently. Beth wasn’t sure if she was disturbed that she had lost so much time, or grateful that the rescue workers, and her family, were no longer on the mountain.

After all, there was no one left to rescue.

Trying to ignore her increasingly dark thoughts, she almost missed it. Then her eyes caught it and she halted, staring down in astonishment at the snow. A single set of footprints, leading away into the gathering dusk, already starting to be filled in by the lightly falling snow.

_A person?_ She glanced up the mountain, where the footprints disappeared into the forest. _Well, it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do._

xxx

There was a man _living on the mountain._ Not that that was so unusual – her family lived part-time on the mountain after all – but everything else about his living situation was. He stayed in the old sanatorium for one, a place so crackling with spiritual static that it made her hairs stand on end. And he had freaking wolves for roommates! ( _Hannah would have loved that,_ a part of her whispered mournfully, and Beth ruthlessly crushed that thought back down into the depths of her mind.)  And – this was the biggest ‘and’ of all – he knew about the creatures down in the mines. Not only that, he actively _hunted_ them.

Beth trailed after him, watching day after day with mounting astonishment, as he went out on what seemed like his normal routine – setting traps, creating talismans, and occasionally actually crossing paths with one of the nightmarish monsters.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered, watching as the creature fled, shrieking in agony from a wave of fire, straight into the waiting jaws of a trap.

On the thirteenth day of her ghostly stalking, he left his journal sitting open on a table and she learned that the monsters were called ‘wendigos’ – and that they were created when a human resorted to cannibalism. This triggered an avalanche of repressed emotion and she had to flee out into the open air for a while to regain her equilibrium. She had suspected – but it was different to have confirmation.

She stayed out on the mountainside, taking deep, unnecessary breaths that calmed her more out of force of habit than anything else, before finally returning to the sanatorium.

Only to walk straight into a trap of her own.

As she passed through the door, unfamiliar symbols blazed to life on the floor and walls and doorframe, burning a brilliant white. Beth found her feet suddenly fixed to the ground and an odd sensation of being more _there_ than before; not as strong as having a corporeal body but more substantial than anything she’d felt since she died. “What the hell?!”

She stared wildly around and the wendigo hunter stepped into view at the far side of the room, looking straight at her. _Looking straight at her._  Hardly daring to breathe, she risked a glance down at her body. There definitely something different about it, a hint of colour and a touch more substance instead of the usual transparent, intangible silver shimmer. _He can see me?_

Beth raised her stunned eyes from her body, and met his appraising gaze. “Thought there was something floating about after me. I didn’t expect you though. You're one of the Washington girls, aren't ya?”

“Beth Washington,” Beth said, still a little dazed. “Hannah – my sister – she’s one of those things now. Wendigos.” Her voice broke halfway through the word. “I read about them in your journal, after I saw you hunting them.”

“Ah.” He was silent for a moment, then asked. “Ate you, did she?”

Beth flinched back, her form hazing for an instant in shock at his bluntness on such a raw subject. “Not while I was alive!” she snapped, stung immediately into defence of her twin. “I died in the fall!” And God, it was _weird_ to talk about herself like that out loud, no matter how long she'd had to come to terms with it.

He nodded thoughtfully. “Well, there’s that at least.” He hesitated and then added. “I'm sorry.”

Beth frowned. “For what?”

He cleared his throat. “I tried to save you both that night, and failed,” he said gruffly, averting his eyes. “And I couldn’t find you when I searched the mines after. I'm sorry for that.”

Beth blinked in surprise. She had forgotten that until he mentioned it – a dark figure wearing goggles, leaning down from the edge of the cliff and offering her a hand, a lifeline. But to take it, she would have had to drop her sister.

_If I had let go of Hannah’s hand… would I still be alive?_

She brushed the thought aside, dismissing it as pointless and painful. “Don't beat yourself up,” she responded, equalling his bluntness. “You tried.” She hesitated and then added, “Thank you, by the way. You didn't even know us and you risked your life to help us.”

The older man grunted and looked away. “Fighting wendigos is what I do. Don't go thinking you’re special or nothin’.”

Beth hid a smirk, recognising his gruff embarrassment at the praise. “It's cool, old man. I can live with that. Or not,” she added, glancing down her form with morbid humour.

To her surprise, he chuckled in amusement. _Well, someone who lives alone with only murderous mythical creatures for company must have a pretty black sense of humour._ Beth smiled. _Yeah, we should get on just fine._

xxx

It took a bit of persuading but she eventually convinced the old guy to alter the runes to allow her to wander around the sanatorium freely instead of being anchored to the spot, but still retain her state of visibility. Then she alternatively coaxed and argued him into carrying a set of the runes on his person, so she could tag along with him.

“Girl, you are a massive pain in the ass, you know that?” he grumbled as he shrugged on his flamethrower tanks.

“You know you love me really, old man,” Beth grinned, barely resisting the impulse to bounce on her heels in excitement. The portable runes engraved on pebbles weren't as complex or useful as the stationary ones in the sanatorium, because they only allowed him to hear her, not see her, outside of the building. She didn't care though – see her, hear her, it didn't matter as long as she could interact with someone.

The hunter grumbled in indignation that was at least half-feigned and Beth laughed, loud and joyful, for what felt like the first time in forever.

xxx

“Jack!” Beth came hurtling into the sanatorium. “Jack, where are you?!”

“Girl, I didn't give you my name so you could go throwing it around all over the place.” The older man’s irritated voice floated out of the doorway to the chapel.

“That's what names are for, old man, did no one ever tell you that?” Beth bantered back automatically, before rushing on impatiently to what she actually wanted to say. “My brother came back to the lodge!”

“What?” Jack’s grizzled head popped around the doorframe and he regarded her with a disbelieving look. “Now why on earth would he go and do something like that?” And then, with exasperation, “What does it take to keep your family off this goddamn mountain?”

“I don't know!” Beth ignored the second question in favour of the first. “But I definitely saw him coming up in the cable car and he was holding the keys to the lodge!”

She had settled into a comfortable routine over the past seven months, roaming the mountain with or without Jack, keeping an eye on the wendigos from a distance (keeping watch over the-thing-that-was-once-Hannah, even if the mere sight of her sister’s empty shell _did_ make her chest hurt like it was splitting open) – and examining every inch of the sanatorium with her newfound tangibility.

It turned out that the complex arrangement of symbols and runes lining the walls of the derelict building that made her both visible and audible also improved, very slightly, her ability to interact with the physical world. Her fingers would now sometimes snag on an object that they had merely passed straight through before.

_Essentially, I’m the world’s shittiest poltergeist, but hallujah, **I can actually touch stuff now!**_ This was something that made _her_ fiendishly gleeful and Jack regret ever agreeing to allow her free run of the place. She spent a great deal of time ‘floating’ his pots and pans across the room, cackling in delight to herself, and ruffling the ears of Jack’s wolves, both of whom bore it with a great deal more patience than their master did.

This morning she had been walking along the ridge near the cable car station, contemplating the fact that she had died almost exactly nine months ago, and been hanging out with Jack for nearly seven (and trying very hard not to think about Christmas, just around the corner, and so often spent with her family on this mountain), when the upper cable car station came to life in a hum of electricity.

She had sat down to watch, idly curious and a little worried about the safety of whatever ranger was using the cable car to come up the mountain (she hoped he’d leave by nightfall, when the monsters stirred). Then the cable car had slowly come into view and that worry had shot up into actual fear when she glimpsed her brother inside, the glint of familiar keys in his hand.

“Why he did come back?” she fretted angrily, pacing across the entrance hall of the sanatorium. “It’s not safe!” Not that Josh knew that, but still.

“I’ve been trying to warn your parents off this mountain for _years_ , girl, you don’t have to tell me,” Jack said dryly, his voice echoing through from the other room. “Although you all seem to have had the luck of the devil – least, you did right up until February, anyway,” he added with black humour. “Coming here year after year, and never once being attacked by the wendigos. Reckon the mountain must like you all.”

“The _mountain_ likes us?” Beth repeated in disbelief, going to stand in the doorway to the chapel hall. “What do you mean? It’s _sentient_?”

Jack raised a greying eyebrow at her from where he was sitting in front of a disassembled shotgun, meticulously cleaning the pieces. “D’you really find that so surprising?” He cast a pointed glance at her form. “You’re a _ghost._ And you’ve seen wendigos.”

“…Fair enough,” Beth acknowledged, filing that away to think about later and returning to her previous train of thought. “I wouldn’t have thought they’d be coming back this soon,” she said, a little more subdued. “I wouldn’t think they’d want to be here after…” She fell silent. Maybe it was egotistical, to assume that her family wouldn’t come back to the site of their disappearance and death. But she knew she wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere near this place, couldn’t have stayed in the lodge if it had been Hannah and Josh that had vanished into the snow and the dark that night.

“Maybe your brother came back to get something he left here,” Jack said, without looking up from the shotgun and his work. “I doubt he’ll be staying long.”

His tone was offhanded but Beth smiled a little, recognising his version of reassurance. “Maybe. I _hope_ he won’t stay long, anyway.”

“Well, why don’t you go stalk _him_ for a change?” Jack grumbled. “Go be someone else’s invisible nuisance. Get you out of my hair for a while.”

“What’s left of it,” Beth snarked automatically. “But that’s actually a good idea. Thanks, Jack.”

“So glad to be helpful.” Jack’s voice was as dry as a desert and Beth laughed, before darting away through the closest wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s the last of the pre-written chapters. xD I’ll do my best to write more soon but my dissertation calls (ugh). Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed, please leave a comment. ^_^


	3. My Words Fall on Deaf Ears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys. xD Finally got back to working on this story, after a super long time – major apologies for the delay. :( If anyone’s still reading, I hope you enjoy. (Also, thanks to BigCatChuck19 for the gentle nudging to work on my UD fic again - check out their stories too guys! Their own ghost!Beth AU helped kickstart my creative processes again. xD)

* * *

It took Beth an embarrassingly long time to work out what Josh was up to.

She spent several weeks shadowing her brother, trailing after him all over the lodge and its grounds, keeping up a steady stream of mocking commentary and insulting remarks about everything from his appearance to his general intelligence. “What the fuck are you _doing_ here, Josh? What’s with the tape measures and the wiring and shit? If you’re trying to renovate this place, you’re doing a fucking awful job. Let me guess, Dad’s selling the lodge? You’d make a mint flogging it as a haunted house, by the way, it wouldn’t even be bullshit –”

(She’s torn between absolute terror for his life, and overwhelming happiness at seeing him again, even if he can’t see her, and naturally this clash of emotions manifests outwardly as heavy sarcasm – because that was her default response to most things when she was alive and she’s not about to change now.)

She asked Jack, once, hesitantly, if it was possible to set up the lodge like the sanatorium, with the runes that allowed her to become visible and audible. Something like sympathy had flickered briefly over Jack’s face, before he shook his grizzled head. “Afraid not. It has to be a place I have a strong connection with for it to work, and preferably somewhere with a decent amount of spiritual energy too.”

“Spiritual energy? You mean like you meditate here and shit?” Beth asked, trying to distract herself from the crushing disappointment. She was pretty sure she knew what he was actually talking about; the sanatorium buzzed and crackled like a static charge to her senses, oddly vibrant in a way that contrasted completely with its physically ruined state.

The hunter had barked a mirthless laugh. “Ha! No, I mean people have lived – and more importantly _died_ – in this building for years on end. That sort of thing tends to leave an impression.”

“Huh.” Beth frowned. “I wonder why I haven’t seen any other ghosts around then.”

“Probably because human _bodies_ aren’t the only things the wendigos consume,” Jack replied and Beth’s eyes widened as she abruptly remembered the way the wendigo spirit inhabiting Hannah’s body had lunged for her, had _ripped_ _holes_ in her immaterial form.

“Shit,” she breathed. “That’s just not fucking fair.”

Jack had laughed at her, a rusty, disused sound, and she’d scowled and made a dig at his receding hairline – and naturally after that the conversation had dissolved into an exchange of (relatively) good-natured jabs and bickering.

Regardless, Beth didn’t clock exactly what Josh was doing until he was nearly ready to start his god-awful excuse for a plan – aka, when he started carting fucking _pig corpses_ up in the cable car and pinning up fake body diagrams in the weird workshop-type area he’d set up for himself in the ruined part of the old hotel under the lodge.

“Jack!” She burst through the wall of the chapel, skidding to a halt in the middle of the room. “Jack, my brother’s a fucking idiot!”

“So you’ve been saying, for quite some time now.” The hunter didn’t look up from where he was weaving together another of the talismans used to ward off the wendigos. “What’s different today?”

“What’s different is I’ve finally worked out why he’s _here,_ why he keeps making trips up and down the mountain,” Beth fumed, pacing in a tight circle. “He’s put together some stupid fucking _prank_ of all things, and is inviting everyone who was involved in what went down last year back to the Blackwood, to get revenge for mine and Hannah’s deaths – and don’t get me wrong, I’m fucking pissed myself, especially at Mike and Jess and Emily, but pretending to be a serial killer is a pretty fucking extreme response, and not to mention, _there are fucking wendigos_ on the mountain that could _actually murder them –”_

“Hold on,” Jack interrupted gruffly, a scowl forming on his face. “Start again. Did you say he’s pretending to be a _serial killer_?”

Several hours and a great deal of swearing later, they had some semblance of a plan hammered out and Beth was once more wandering the upper slopes of the mountain in an effort to calm down (Jack’s preferred method being to retreat into his favourite armchair and irritably smoke one of his prized cigars).

_I knew Josh was in a bad way, but fuck. God, I hope we can help him. Actually, fuck that. We **are** going to help him, and we’re going to get everyone off this cursed fucking mountain. No one else is going to die._

xxx

Two days later, Beth watched the cable car station rumble into life and couldn’t help but wonder if she’d maybe be a little bit too optimistic. It didn’t take a genius to see the fractures and fault lines running through their previously tight-knit group, the way that hurt and tension and words left unspoken sang through the air between them.

(A small, unkind part of her is glad, glad that they haven’t just gone on with their lives, glad to see that underneath petty cruelty and ill-considered alcohol-fuelled actions, they care enough to feel grief and guilt over her and Hannah’s deaths.)

Then she saw Sam and the rest of world seemed to fade into the background. The blonde was as beautiful as ever as she talked to Chris, but Beth could see the tiredness under her cheerful demeanour, how much being back at Blackwood was wearing on her.

(It hurt like fire, seeing her again, with the ghosts of could-have-beens hovering around them both, but she was glad too – a year was long time to go without seeing the woman you were pretty sure you were in love with, even if you had never admitted it even to yourself, even if your untimely death had killed any chance of it ever going anywhere. She was still glad.)

Beth couldn’t help but stick close to Sam, shadowing her footsteps even as she tried to keep an eye on the rest of the group. She could sense Jack somewhere off to her left, the faint buzz of the runes he always carried on his person helping her to keep tabs on him, even as he kept tabs on her friends.

As they approached the lodge, she could feel little pockets of energy where Jack had placed what talismans he had on hand in a loose ring around the perimeter of the building, anchoring them firmly to the ground. Apparently they were next to useless indoors, but outside they were enough to make the wendigos at least shy away. (Which, really, explained why Jack felt comfortable enough to actually fall asleep on this cursed mountain. Although the talismans around the sanatorium wouldn’t do him any good if the wendigos locked up in the basement somehow got out – although she supposed that was what flamethrowers were for.)

It took approximately two point three seconds for Emily and Jessica to start bitching when everyone made it inside and Beth could only wait it out, rolling her ghostly eyes as hard as she could. She was even less pleased a minute later when Josh used it as an excuse to send Mike and Jess away from the relative safety of the lodge. “What the hell, Josh,” she complained at him, her words falling on deaf ears as the group moved around her intangible form. “You better fucking hope Jack is on the ball.”

 _I’m pissed at Mike and Jess, but I don’t want them to be fucking **eaten.**_ Involuntarily, the image of her body’s pale arm with chunks of flesh missing from it flashed in her mind’s eye and she forced it away with a shudder. _Get your shit together, Beth._

Of course, that was when Emily decided to kick up a fuss about a fucking bag of all things and Beth was forced to watch another pair of idiots trail back out into the cold and the dark, and she was suddenly too busy being pissed off to be upset. “Fuck me, Emily, are your panties really that fucking important?!” she bellowed from the doorway as they turned down the path, snow swirling around them. “Fuck’s sake.”

She couldn’t leave though, couldn’t follow them, because she managed to read a decent amount of Josh’s plans when he left his notebook lying open on his desk and she knew her best chance at actively derailing this whole thing before it properly began was going to happen fairly soon.

Sure enough, Josh sent himself and the three remaining members of the group scrambling through the lodge on a miniature scavenger hunt and when they reconvened (Sam bowed out to go and take a bath, and it took all of Beth’s self-control not to follow her like an overprotective shadow), she watched with eager anticipation as Chris lifted the spirit board out of its box. She could feel a shiver of _something_ around the board, a faint buzz of energy that gave her hope that the board might actually function as advertised.

 _This had better fucking work,_ she thought, half-curse, half-prayer. _I can’t think of another way to get through to Josh, short of Jack bodily dragging him off the mountain – which would a) probably result in Jack getting arrested, and b) would not actually solve any of the emotional or mental issues. Plus, he might just come right back again._

Chris, Josh and Ashley settled themselves around the little table and even despite the knots in her stomach, Beth took a moment to be amused that Josh’s dramatic ass hadn’t bothered to put the lights on and had filled the area with candles instead.

It was decided that Ashley would be the medium and she looked more than a little nervous at the prospect as she began to speak. “Ok. Um… hello? Is anyone there? Will you reveal yourself to us…if you’re there?”

As if her words had flipped an invisible switch, Beth felt something in the currents of energy around her _shift_ and the fuzzy _potential_ around the spirit board suddenly sharpened into crystal-like clarity. Somehow, instinctively, she knew even as she lunged for the pointer that picking up the object would work perfectly, no fumbled attempts at holding on – and it did. “ _Yes,”_ she hissed in triumph, as she grasped the pointer with fingers that almost felt solid. “Fucking finally!”

Beth pulled the pointer across the board with a speed born of deep and long-held frustration, ignoring the startled cries of the other three people with their fingers on the triangle of wood.

“Woah!” Chris cried, sounding more excited than freaked out. “It’s moving, it’s moving!”

“Guys, what –?!” Josh’s tone was deeply unnerved and Beth couldn’t help the spark of grim satisfaction at the sound as she shunted the pointer around. _Nope, sorry Josh. You’re not in control here._

“It’s spelling something!” Ashley sounded a little panicked. “Omigosh, it’s actually spelling something!”

“Read it, Ash, you’re the medium,” Chris urged.

Ashley looked like she was deeply regretting ever agreeing to a séance, letting alone being the medium but she swallowed hard and starting reading.  “Um, that was an S – T –O –P, and then um, a Y, then a O – U – R –  G – A – M – E – J – O –”

She fell silent, as did the other two as the words slowly formed out of the individual letters. “Stop your game, Josh,” Ashley narrated uncertainly. “People will get hurt.”

“What?” Josh croaked out, but Beth didn’t pause to look at him, too intent on getting her message across now that she could finally _speak_.

“L – E – A – V – E, leave,” Ashley’s eyes were enormous and scared, her voice faltering, but she kept reading faithfully, “All in danger–”

Beth paused to check if Josh was taking this in and the sight of him caused her to halt the pointer, completely stunned. His face was bone-white, entirely without colour. The black smudges under his lashes stood out like deep bruises and his eyes glittered, huge and dark in the candlelight. But his expression was what pierced her right to the core – absolute shock, underlain with a terrible, gaping, self-destructive grief… and the barest glimmer of desperate, painful hope.

And with that, Beth’s anger fell away like the early morning fog burned off by the sun and she closed her eyes, ashamed. This wasn’t Josh’s fault; he was hurting deeply from their deaths. Those files she had found suggested that he was more ill than he’d ever let her know, or had deteriorated badly since last year. And he didn’t know about the wendigos. 

And then he spoke and her heart clenched so hard that she felt the burning pressure in her eyes that told her she would be crying if she could.

 “Beth?” he whispered, voice so thin it was barely audible. “Han? Is that you?”

Beth breathed deeply, unnecessarily and then placed a hand on the pointer again. It only shook slightly as she gently glided it across the board, first to ‘yes’ and then to ‘no’.

“Beth?” he asked, voice breaking mid-way through her name. Ashley and Chris were utterly silent and Beth couldn’t look away from her brother’s face long enough to see what their expressions were like. She moved the pointer again, drawing their index fingers with her, and stopped over ‘yes’.

Josh made a sound like a strangled sob and jerked his head away from the table, hiding his expression. “I – I –” he rasped, voice thick with tears. “I’m so sorry, Beth, I’m so sorry, please, please, I didn’t, please –”

Beth’s heart broke at his agonised apologies. “No, Josh, no,” she murmured pointlessly, before grabbing the pointer in frustration again.

“Not your fault.” Ashley’s voice wavered, frail with shock, but still carrying out her appointed task as the wooden triangle whisked across the board. “Don’t blame you. Love you, idiot. Buck up, Joshie.”

The agonised noise that tore out of Josh at the familiar sound of Hannah and Beth’s childhood nickname for him was utterly raw with grief and love in equal measure, wavering with a thread of hysterical laughter.  Beth let go of the pointer, watching and aching at the sight of the tears running down her brother’s face, and wishing fiercely, pointlessly that she could wrap him up in a hug.

Silence reigned over the séance apart from the sound of Josh’s crying and Beth finally turned to look at Chris and Ashley. Shell-shocked was probably the best word to describe their faces, along with grief and guilt of their own. “Is…is she finished speaking?” Ashley whispered, her gaze darting around the room.

“I don’t know.” Chris shared a look with her, and then they glanced at Josh, clearly wanting to say something but unsure as to what. “Josh, bro…” Chris stretched out his free hand and placed it gently on his best friend’s shoulder. “Is okay if we let go?” From the look on Chris’ face, he clearly wanted to be able to move around the table and freely comfort Josh, but her brother’s head snapped up so suddenly it was startling.

“ _No!”_ The vehemence of his shout was shocking and Chris and Ashley flinched away. “No, she can’t go, not yet – !”

“Josh, I’m sure Beth will wait around for a bit, if you still want to talk to her,” Ashley squeaked, clearly unnerved by the wild look in his eyes. “At least, I think she will?” she added uncertainly.

Beth wasted no time in reaching out and guiding the pointer to ‘yes’ and Ashley managed a smile at the sight. “See, Josh? Beth isn’t going anywhere. Why don’t we move to the sofa for now?”

“C’mon Josh,” Chris added coaxingly, “You’ve had a shock, bro. We can come back to the board in a bit.”

Chris and Ashley’s joint efforts got Josh to lift his finger, with great reluctance, from the pointer and as they simultaneously removed their hands, Beth felt the current of energy snap. The vibrating clarity around the board drained away and it was once again just a piece of wood, faintly lit with potential energy.

The two managed to get Josh situated on the sofa, curled up between them, and exchanged glances over Josh’s bowed head, clearly at a loss. He was still crying, although quieter now and muttering wetly under his breath, and Beth ached at the sight, feeling utterly useless.

“What do you think?” Ashley broke the silence first. Her voice was trembling and nervous, her eyelashes wet with tears of her own. “Do – do you think it really was –?” she darted an anxious glance at Josh, still hunched over on himself.

Chris blew out a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair, his own eyes suspiciously bright. “I – I don’t know Ash. Normally I’d say that’s impossible, that ghosts don’t exist – but I don’t know,” he ended helplessly. “What else could it have been? Unless you…?” he darted a glance at her.

Ashley recoiled in horror. “No!” she cried, forgetting to keep her voice down in her shock. “No, I didn’t do it! Why would I?”

“… _What_?”

 Ashley blanched as she suddenly found herself looking into the dark brown eyes of Josh Washington. Bloodshot, wet with tears, more than a little lost – and rapidly focusing as dark grief bled into darker rage. “You were – you were _pretending?”_

“What? No!” Ashley yelped, hastily shuffling along the sofa until her back hit the armrest. “No, Josh, I swear I wasn’t!”

Her pleading fell on deaf ears as Josh shot to his feet, gripping his hair in agitation. “No, no, no, no,” he snarled, knuckles whitening. “This can’t be – it can’t be –”

“Hey, bro, it’s okay,” Chris stood up too, attempting to soothe his best friend. “It wasn’t Ashley, I was just being stupid man, you know how I feel about the supernatural – I can’t believe evidence even when it’s right in front of my face.”

 Josh didn’t even seem to notice Chris’ strained, joking attempt at diffusing the situation and Beth watched with rapidly increasing alarm as her brother squeezed his eyes shut, digging his fingers into his scalp with a cry of pain. Then his eyes snapped open and he wheeled on Ashley, roaring “ _How could you?!”_

Then he lunged and Ashley screamed – Beth and Chris both yelled “ _No!”_ and there was a confused flurry of movement than ended with Josh’s clenched fist meeting Chris’ head as the latter put himself between the former and Ashley.

Chris dropped to the floor, out like a light, and Ashley kept screaming, horrified and terrified all at once, and then Josh’s fist silenced her too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks for reading and apologies again for the delay; if you enjoyed, please leave a comment and let me know. ^_^


	4. The Courage of Mice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, I’m so glad you’re still interested in this fic! ^_^ Thanks for letting me know, and I’m glad you’re enjoying it. :)

“ _Josh!”_ Beth cried out, completely aghast and completely unheard, as Josh stood, panting, between the unconscious bodies of two of his friends, the light of overwhelming rage slowly draining from his eyes.

“Why?” he muttered, screwing up his face as he talked to himself. Pain leaked into his voice and he scrubbed furiously at his eyes. “Why would she do that? Why?” The bewilderment bled into pain, bled into anger. “ _Why?”_ he roared again, glaring at Ashley’s unconscious form.

“No, Josh, God no,” Beth muttered, tugging at her own hair in anguish. “I’m here, Josh, I’m real! Go back to the spirit board!”

Josh ignored her inaudible plea, instead pacing and muttering darkly. Then seemingly coming to a decision, he grabbed Chris and hoisted him up in a fireman’s carry, before setting off down the stairs, trailed by a furious, anguished, impotent ghost. “The show must go on,” he whispered faintly, unsteadily, and Beth’s heart broke all over again at the thread of instability in his voice, at the widening cracks so apparent in his façade. _“The show must go on.”_

xxx

 Watching Josh deposit Chris and Ashley in one of the guest bedrooms, Beth was forced to conclude she may have accidently made things worse.

“Oh shit, Josh, no,” she muttered, pacing agitatedly around her brother as he bound the two to chairs with plastic zip ties, first their wrists and then their ankles. “Josh, I’m here, I swear.”

_I was so close,_ Beth thought furiously, helplessly, following her brother out the door. He locked it behind him and set off down the stairs. _I was so goddamn close to helping him, and everyone else. I didn’t even get to mention the fucking wendigos!_

Although that would have been admittedly a harder sell than the existence of ghosts, Beth acknowledged to herself as she trailed after Josh down the main staircase, given that they weren’t a very well-known supernatural entity and she didn’t have any proof, other than the fact that she herself existed.

“What the fuck are you doing _now_ , Josh?” Beth muttered as her brother entered the basement. _You’ve clearly given up on the Chris-and-Ashley part of the prank, although I don’t know whether that’s because I’ve given away too much – they’re not stupid and they’ll figure it out from what I said at the séance if your psycho clown makes an appearance now – or if it’s because I derailed you and you’re just – skipping ahead._

_Like a scratched CD,_ her mind supplied helpfully and Beth had to tamp down on the feeling of intense guilt. “I’m sorry, Josh,” she murmured as her brother went into his workshop, banging the door closed behind him. She glided through the wood after him, watching as he jerkily pulled on pieces of his psycho costume. “What you’re doing isn’t the answer, but I didn’t mean to make you worse. I was trying to help – you and everyone else.”

Her words went unheard, as usual, and Josh stormed back out of the room, the instability of his mind and mood an almost tangible thing swirling about him. Beth had to take several deep breaths to refocus herself. _You failed. Get over it. The night isn’t done yet and you have a bunch of idiots to save before morning._

xxx

Beth didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at an increasingly unnerved Matt and Emily being spooked by ‘ghostly’ activity as they trailed around the lodge looking for the rest of their friends.

_Or punch something. Yeah, I really fucking wish I could punch something right now. Or at all. The fucking irony that Josh’s fake ghosts are better poltergeists than an actual legit ghost would be funny, if I wasn’t so fucking pissed off._

The duo had returned empty-handed from their bag hunt, freaked out by one of Josh’s severed pig heads and a bloody warning note, only find the lodge in darkness with no electricity and no sign of anyone else anywhere – Beth’s urge to punch something was growing stronger as they wandered around with no clue that an unconscious Ashley and Chris were behind one of the many locked doors on the second floor and that Sam was peacefully soaking in the hot tub with her earphones in, in the bathroom at the top of the lodge. (Beth had been up to check on her, and was torn between relief that she was alright, and frustration at her obliviousness.)

“C’mon guys,” she yelled fruitlessly as they discovered and started following a blood trail. “It’s not real! It’s – oh, that’s fucking gross.”

“Eww, what the fuck, that’s disgusting!” Emily exclaimed, at almost exactly the same moment, stepping back in revulsion and fright. A huge pig corpse lay gutted on the dining room floor, blood flecked across the chairs and sideboard and pooling a little underneath it. “What the _fuck_ is going _on?”_

“I don’t know, Em,” Matt looked incredibly uneasy, his hands flexing a little as though unconsciously looking for a weapon. “This is pretty fucked up though.”

“Yeah, no shit! If this _is_ Chris or Josh’s idea of a funny joke, I swear I’m going to –”

All of the candles in the room went out simultaneously, and Matt and Emily both yelped in surprise and fear. Beth could only watch as Josh melted out of the shadows behind the pair of them, bone-white mask glinting in the dim moonlight coming in through the windows. The gas mask was over Matt’s face before he had time to react and he could only struggle briefly before the chemicals overwhelmed him and he slumped to the floor. Emily screamed and backed away, stumbling in her panic. “ _Fuck!_ What the hell! Who are you?! What did you do to Matt?!”

Josh chuckled, the sound distorted to something deep and malevolent through the voice modifier. “Exactly the same as what I’m going to do to you, Emily.”

Emily blanched, and then bolted for the door. Josh pursed, heavy boots thumping across the floor, gas tank clanking. It wasn’t long before he caught her, the darkness and panic and lack of familiarity (in comparison) with the layout of the lodge working against her.

Beth trailed him as he carried Emily to one of the outbuildings, before tying her up in some kind of sawblade trap, next to a headless fake body double of himself. He busied himself at some sort of control panel back in the shadows of the building, while Beth paced in a circle and fretted.

_Fuck, fuck, what do I do? Where the fuck is Jack? I hope he’s okay, I hope Jessica and Mike aren’t being massive morons –_

She eventually went back to the lodge – since Josh was clearly waiting for Matt to wake up and follow the blood trail he’d laid from the house to the outbuildings – and went to look in on Chris and Ashley and Sam.

And for the first time that evening, she appeared to be in luck – Josh’s first two victims were awake.

“C’mon, Ashley,” Chris urged. He was developing a magnificently painful-looking black eye, but he appeared to be doing his best to ignore it. “You’re closest to the bedside cabinet – can you try to reach it and open it? There might be something, anything we can use.”

Ashley still looked both groggy and frightened, but nodded. “Okay, okay.” Slowly, awkwardly, she scraped and shuffled and hopped her chair backwards, hampered by her bound wrists and ankles, until she could grasp the handle and pull open the drawer. She rummaged in the general debris and then let out a shaky gasp of triumph. “Chris! I’ve think got something!” And she pulled out a tiny pair of nail scissors, almost fumbling them with her bound hands.

“That’s great, Ash,” Chris encouraged, doing his best to smile at her. “Take your time, the angle’s gonna be awkward, but you’ll definitely be able to cut us loose with those.”

Sure enough, after five minutes and a great deal of wriggling around, Ashley managed to free her wrists, and after that made short work of the rest of their bindings. Christ went immediately to the door and tried to open it. “Shit,” he muttered, frustrated. “He’s locked us in.”

“Chris, what the hell is going on with Josh?” There was a slight tremor in Ashley’s left hand, a familiar tell that said she was stressed beyond belief, something that was also echoed in her voice. “He totally flipped out! I mean, he was really upset and God, I don’t blame him for that, that was _crazy_ if Beth was really talking to us, but he _attacked_ us –”

Chris took her by the shoulders and her babbling cut off mid-sentence as she fell silent, startled. “Ash, I don’t know what’s going on with Josh – but I’m sure as hell gonna find out,” he said, uncharacteristically grim. “We need to get out of here and confront him about it.”

It didn’t take them long to work out that while the door was locked, the window wasn’t. “Guys, I think you’ve forgotten you’re a pair of couch potato nerds,” Beth said, watching with increasing alarm as Chris wriggled his way out of the window feet first, before dropping gracelessly onto the porch roof. “Seriously, guys, don’t fucking break your legs, this is neither the time or the place –”

However, before Beth’s incredulous eyes, both Chris and Ashley managed to navigate the initial drop without mishap, and then the second drop onto the porch itself with absolutely zero leg breakages. “I don’t fucking believe it,” she informed them, trailing them back inside. “Actually, I’m calling beginner’s luck on this bullshit, because you better believe I saw that embarrassing fall you took earlier Chris, trying to get through the basement window –”

“What the fuck happened in here?” Chris cut her off unintentionally, looking around at the disarrayed furniture caused by Emily’s panicked flight. “And is that _blood?!”_

“Chris.” Ashley was pale but determined-looking, despite the tremor in her hand. “Chris, before we do anything else we need to go get that spirit board.”

“What? Why?” Chris frowned, baffled, while Beth whipped around towards Ashley, wide-eyed.

“Because B-Beth was trying to _tell_ us something earlier, she mentioned something about Josh and a game and how he should stop before people get hurt, remember?” She looked around at the blood and disturbed furniture, and shifted her weight anxiously from foot to foot. “We need to _know_ what’s going on.”

“Ashley,” Chris said, in his patient, let’s-be-reasonable voice. “Ghosts aren’t –”

“Real?” Ashley glared at him, even as she worried at the cuff of her hoodie’s sleeve with her free hand. “How do you explain what happened earlier then, Chris? Because that wasn’t me, and you don’t even believe in ghosts, and it sure as heck wasn’t Josh judging by his reaction. I’m going to get the board, whether you’re coming or not.”

“No, Ash, that’s not what I –” Chris tried to placate her as she turned and marched up the stairs, determined despite the fear in every line of her body. “Of course, I’m coming with you, even if I don’t –”

“Believe in ghosts?” Beth snarked on autopilot. “Also way to fucking go, Ashley!” She leapt through the ceiling in her eagerness and straight through the wall of the library, circling impatiently around the board. _Who knew Ashley being superstitious would turn out to be so useful one day!_

Ashley, with Chris in tow, soon arrived and immediately gestured him towards the board. “What?” Chris looked taken aback. “Me?”

“Yes,” Ashley said firmly. “You talk to her, just you. So there’s no doubt it’s just me making stuff up.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, trying so hard to be assertive – and Beth couldn’t help but feel a little proud of her, knowing how difficult it was for Ashley to stand up to people, even if that person was Chris.

“Ash…” Chris’ voice softened. “I didn’t think – I _don’t_ think –”

“Please, Chris, just do it.”

He sighed, conceding defeat and placed a finger on the pointer. “Um, hello? Beth, are you there?”

Once more, Beth felt the faint energy around the board shift and sharpen into something bright and razor-keen, and it was almost like being solid again as she easily grasped the pointer. Firmly, so there was no chance of misinterpreting it as a casual drift, she pulled the triangle to ‘yes’. Then, to underscore her point, she spelled out, ‘I’m here, dummy’.

Chris went pale with shock, staring down at his finger on the pointer, alone (as far as he could tell). “That’s, uh, I, uh –”

“Ask her what’s going on,” Ashley interrupted urgently.

“I, uh –” Chris was clearly wrestling with his ingrained skepticism in the supernatural, but managed to say, “What’s going –”

Beth was already moving the pointer before he’d even finished speaking, flitting around the board as fast as she could.

“Josh revenge prank,” Ashley read out, looking horrified. “For last year. Fake killer. But real danger too. Leave mountain.”

“Danger? What danger?” Chris looked as if he was struggling with all the different pieces of information, but seemed to latch onto that statement like a lifeline, perhaps looking to get back on firmer ground.

_Well, sorry to disappoint, but this is even more supernatural. And a much harder sell than ghosts to boot,_ Beth thought grimly. Taking a deep, unnecessary breath, she traced out W – E – N – D – I – G – O.

“Wendigo?” Ashley wrinkled her nose, frowning. “What’s that?”

They fell silent as the pointer moved again, spelling out ‘monster’.

“What,” Chris said flatly.

‘Absorbed Hannah’s spirit. Living in her body. Twisted. Not her anymore. Monster.’ Beth’s hand was trembling as much as Ashley’s voice as she traced the words, because it felt like a betrayal to call her twin that, to call sweet, naïve, childish Hannah a monster. _Hannah – the real Hannah – is gone,_ Beth reminded herself, aching grief flaring in her chest. _And her body is now a supernatural killing machine, and a puppet for a malevolent spirit. Which they need to know if they’re going to make it off this mountain alive._

 “Are you for real –?!” Chris started to speak, disbelief in every syllable of his voice, before a faint cry suddenly echoed in the distance.

Ashley and Chris’ heads both snapped up, looking a little like deer in the headlights, but Beth was just relieved that the cry was only human. ‘Josh, prank, Emily, Matt, shed.’ She spells out pointedly. ‘Tell them too. Everyone leave.’

“Shit,” Chris cursed, making to stand up. “Um, thanks Beth,” he added, a little uncertainly, before lifting his finger from the board.

“Shit, Chris, I wasn’t finished!” But it was too late, the connection had already snapped and Beth’s finger once more passed uselessly through the pointer. “ _Fuck’s sake!”_

The only positive was that Ashley snatched up the board, taking it with her as she ran down the stairs after Chris, trailed by a pissed-off ghost. _You idiots better not get yourselves fucking killed, I swear I will never let you hear the fucking end of it if we all end up haunting Blackwood!_

xxx

They all made it to the shed in time to see Josh’s sawblade trap in action, Chris and Ashley bursting in behind a panicking Matt as Emily and Josh’s frantic cries echoed around the building.

“ _Josh!”_ Chris shouted, startling everyone present except Ashley and Beth. _“Knock it off!_ We know it’s you setting this whole thing up!”

Beth could only watch as things got pretty ugly, pretty damn fast after that. The confusion and fear rapidly morphed into fury as Chris and Ashley untied everyone, and there was a great deal of shouting from Matt and Emily, which Josh easily matched, until it reached boiling point. The sound of Emily’s hand connecting with Josh’s face was loud, the slap ringing in the silence that immediately followed.

The shock on Josh’s face didn’t last long, something thunderous and dark growing in its place as he gingerly reached up to touch his swelling cheek. Simultaneously, Matt and Chris hastily pushed Emily behind them, even as she spat angrily, “That’s for the trauma, you fucking asshole!”

Josh laughed at that, a hint of hysteria in the sound. “Trauma? Do you really want to talk to _me_ about fucking _trauma,_ Emily?” His voice grew louder and he took a step forward, one which was instantly matched by Chris, who held up his hands in a soothing gesture.

“Josh, bro, let’s all just stop shouting and start talking okay? Besides, it turns out we might have bigger problems than a revenge prank gone wrong tonight.”

“What?” Emily’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Ashley pulled out the spirit board, and there was a moment of silence.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Emily said flatly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I had initially planned for Josh to do something other than the sawblade trap with Matt and Emily (because surely he had something different planned for them in canon than what happened to Chris and Ashley), but then I realised that he would definitely still have to a) fake his own death to give himself freedom to move around, and b) establish that his ‘serial killer’ meant business by killing someone. Which meant going ahead with the sawblade trap, and then moving onto the Matt-and-Emily-specific portion of the prank – which then didn’t happen because Chris and Ashley burst in. xD 
> 
> Also, thanks again for the continued interest! ^_^ If you enjoyed, please let me know your thoughts. :)


	5. Walk a Mile in My Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, I’m so glad you’re still interested in this fic! ^_^ Thanks for letting me know, and I’m glad you’re enjoying it. :)

It took a lot of convincing. _A lot._

Firstly, to get Emily and Matt to even entertain the idea of using the board, and then that it wasn’t some kind of elaborate trick. Beth lost count of the number of personal questions Emily asked in an effort to trip her up (Matt was also skeptical, but ultimately easier to win over.) However, the majority of Beth’s attention was on Josh, even as she answered Emily. The darkness slowly faded from his face during the questioning, leaving behind something achingly lost and bewildered, with just the slightest flicker of _hope_ around the edges of his expression.

(Something about the way the way Emily and Matt were so clear in their disbelief had somehow convinced him that this was real; the way Chris and Ashley were so pale and shaken up, and so obviously _not_ putting on a show for anyone’s benefit. Not to mention the embarrassing secrets being divulged by Beth, about Emily, in the other girl’s efforts to trip her up with questions. “I don’t like _all_ anime,” Emily snapped, her cheeks faintly pink as Ashley, Chris and Matt goggled at her in surprise and Beth smirked in the background. “I’m not a fucking nerd, unlike some people in this group. I just think _Spirited Away_ is kinda cool.”)

In the end, Beth managed to convince them she was there and real, but naturally the wendigo revelation was harder to swallow. “No.” Emily appeared to have stalled completely. “I refuse to fucking believe there are honest to God monsters on this mountain, this is too fucking much.”

(Beth was ninety percent sure what she could see under Emily’s disbelief was something like shock, and amazingly, _guilt. You don’t want it to be true, because then it’ll mean what Hannah has become is partially your fault,_ she thought, a little part of her meanly pleased.)

Beth paused to think for a moment, frustrated. Short of actually running into a wendigo (bad idea), she couldn’t think of a way to prove their existence beyond a shadow of a doubt. _Although maybe…_

_‘_ Go sanatorium,’ she spelled out. ‘Locked up wendigos in basement.’ Sending them to the sanatorium also had the advantage of placing them behind the protection of far superior talismans than the ones Jack had hastily put together for the lodge – and they would be able to _see_ her. Talk to her, without the intermediator of the board between them (which, during the latest round of questions, she had come to realise that while it was useful, it was also incredibly limited and laborious to have a conversation through.)

There were sounds of general confusion from all present. “What? Locked up by who?” Emily asked, which started a whole other round of questions and arguments as Beth explained about Jack and his occupation, although it did give her the opportunity to reassure them that he was looking out for Mike and Jess while Beth was looking out for them.

‘Go sanatorium,’ Beth spelled firmly, ending the conversation in exasperation. ‘Get Sam, go sanatorium. Proof.’

Emily had already lifted her finger from the pointer, but before Ashley could move to fold the board away, Josh lurched forward, falling to his knees beside it. His trembling hand landed on the triangle, before he spoke. “Beth?”

His voice was a low croak, and Beth couldn’t help the surge of pain that tore through her at how broken her brother looked, shaking slightly as he sat hunched over the board. ‘Still here, Josh,’ she traced out.

“I’m sorry.” He sounded utterly miserable. “For not believing you before. And for – for what happened –”

‘Don’t blame you.’ Beth spelled, wishing the board could indicate tone better, could project both kindness and firmness. His self-hatred and misplaced guilt was not helping him in the slightest and it hurt her to see him like that. ‘Last year not your fault. Go sanatorium, talk more.’

He nodded, making a pained noise of acknowledgement in his throat. In the end, it was Chris’ gentle coaxing that encouraging him up from where he was bowed over the board, and Ashley carefully folded it away, tucking it into the backpack she’d picked up before leaving the lodge.

“Let’s go, man. Sooner we get there the better.”

xxx

To no one’s surprise, Sam was still in the bath when they got back to the lodge, and rather startled by the majority of her friends knocking on the bathroom door. This naturally prompted another round of disbelief and questions and answers, which Beth was getting heartily sick of at this point – but she made the effort for Sam; Sam whose face went chalk-white at the confirmation she was talking to Beth, whose hands gripped the edges of the board so hard her knuckles went bloodless.

(She knew Sam felt it too, the _potential_ hovering between them both, potential snatched away by her death. She also knew that Sam had that same possibility with Josh, the same tangle of unspoken feelings, and while she couldn’t help but feel jealous, she also wanted them both to be happy. In some ways, her death made her feelings on the subject simpler – she didn’t have a horse in the race anymore, as it were. It made the way Sam gently put her arm around Josh’s hunched form – concern and reproach in her eyes in equal measure as the others filled her in on what happened –  easier to deal with.)

Regardless, Sam managed to regain her composure with admirable speed, and under her direction the group was soon pulling on parkas and hats and scarfs from the Washingtons’ collection of winter clothing. They set off from the lodge in a clustered group, the wind and snowflakes whipping around them as their breath smoked in the cold night air. Beth circled around them, wary and protective, hyper-aware now that they were out in the open.

She’d warned them of the basics through the spirit board (‘don’t move, they see movement, hate fire, shotgun slows them, bite not infectious, can mimic human voices’) and despite their dubious expressions, they’d retrieved a couple of shotguns from Beth and Josh’s father’s gun cabinet (since there was a distinct shortage of flamethrowers on the premises). They’d all had a go on one occasion or the other at the shooting range in Blackwood, but Chris, Sam and Mike were deniably the best shots of the group – so Chris and Sam were the ones carrying the weapons, despite Sam’s distaste for guns in general.

They were just over halfway to the sanatorium when a shrieking scream rang out through darkened pine trees, chilling and undeniably inhuman. The group turned as one, eyes wide, and Beth barely had time to curse furiously before the thing-that-was-once-Hannah burst from the treeline, all jittering movements and elongated, spidery limbs.

There was a moment of absolute stunned silence and Beth could almost feel the disbelief crumble and give way as the group was confronted by irrefutable proof of the wendigos’ existence. Then Josh stumbled back, horror written all over his face, and the wendigo’s head snapped around and it screeched as it skittered forward, drawn by his movement.

“ _No!”_ Beth shouted, at the same time as Sam, and then suddenly she was there, feet planted firmly in front of Josh, shotgun raised to sight along it. There was a heartbeat of stillness where all Beth could see was Sam, blonde tendrils of hair whipped about her face by the wind, face a mask of determination and fear. Then the shotgun _boomed_ and the wendigo was thrown back, crashing to a halt against a tree trunk.

It screamed in fury and started to pull itself upright, milky eyes staring in Sam and Josh’s direction, but Beth darted forward, her heart in her mouth. _“I don’t fucking think so!”_ she shouted, reaching out for that ever-present flicker of red light under the wendigo’s skin, and _pulling._

She had a split-second to be startled – her reaction had been bizarrely instinctive and she couldn’t say exact what had prompted her to try it – but the next moment, she was almost overwhelmed by the burning crimson tide of _hungerhungerhunger_ and black malevolence that burst against her immaterial form, the sense that she had grabbed onto something that clung to her hands like hot tar.

 Then the wendigo turned to look directly at her with its sightless eyes, screeching furiously as the red light moved and pulsed under its skin – and then it _leapt._ Beth backpedalled frantically, ducking through a pine tree and tearing off as fast as she could into the woods. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, okay definitely got its attention, fuck, fuck –_

She was aware of it terrifyingly close behind her, screaming in that awful inhuman way, and knew the only reason she was managing to stay ahead of it was because the wendigo’s physical body was (for once) working against it, as it was unable to simply run straight through any trees or rocky outcrops in its path.

_Fuck, just a little further from the group and then I’ll try phasing through the ground or something, that always sucks and makes me feel like I’m drowning, but it’s better than being fucking eaten –_

Then she ran over the crest of a slight hill and immediately spotted a better alternative; a herd of elk, which were probably grazing quietly before, but now looked uneasy and spooked, on the verge of fleeing. _Thank you Mother Nature!_ Beth cheered internally. _Or possibly the fucking mountain itself, who knows!_

She made it down amongst the herd, just as the wendigo burst over the brow of the hill, and had just enough time to throw herself at the closest elk and slip inside his skin, before the herd erupted into panicked flight at the sudden arrival of a predator in their midst.

The wendigo screeched again and Beth almost fancied there was a note of confusion this time, as its original prey vanished and it was presented with a sea of new targets – not that the elk were sticking around to be eaten. The thunder of hooves echoed all around her as the herd charged through the trees, and Beth gritted her teeth against the weird, blurring sensation of possession – not true possession, she wasn’t trying to wrestle control of his body away from the elk, but riding shotgun was enough to experience the thoroughly unnerving feeling of having both two and four legs at the same time, and a point of view from two different pairs of eyes. _Not to mention the tail and fucking antlers,_ Beth groused, in an effort to distract herself from the weirdness. _There’s a reason I tried this once and never again._

Eventually she judged they’d moved far enough to confuse the wendigo and parted from the elk, slipping back out of its skin as easily she’d slid in. The herd continued past, the sound of hoofbeats eventually fading away into the distance as Beth started making her way towards the sanatorium, circling around and up the mountain. _I hope they had the sense to keeping going, to run for the sanatorium when I distracted the wendigo. Please, let one fucking thing go right tonight._

And miraculously, it seemed her prayers were answered; she reached the sanatorium just in time to see Emily and Matt struggling to close the heavy double doors behind the group, Chris and Sam standing nervously by with shotguns at the ready.

“Thank fucking God,” she announced, phasing through the wall into the ruined entrance hall just as the door finally closed with an echoing boom.  “I didn’t know if you guys would keep your heads long enough to actually make a break for this place.”

The group whipped around in almost perfect unison at the sound of her voice; Ashley let out a stifled shriek, her hands flying up to cover her mouth, as Chris cursed in surprise. They all stared, wide-eyed at the now-visible form of Beth, shimmering faintly in the moonlight streaming in from the hole in the ceiling. She smirked at them and waved. “I told you we’d be able to talk more here. Hi, it’s me, Beth. In the flesh. Or not, as the case may be.”

“Beth?” Sam whispered. Her face was pale but intense as she stepped forward – Josh beside her, trembling, with his eyes locked on the form of his sister’s ghost. “How–?”

But before Beth could answer, out of nowhere, a colossal _boom_ suddenly thundered through the sanatorium, an explosion from somewhere under their feet that made the ground heave and the walls shake.

Shrieks and shouts of surprise rang out as the six living humans staggered and tried to keep their balance; Beth only swore, and yelled, “Everyone get in the fucking chapel, _now_!”

“Beth!” Sam shouted in alarm as she stumbled into Matt. “What’s going on?!”

“No fucking clue, going to find out!” Beth yelled over her shoulder, before diving down through the concrete floor, aiming for the basement where the explosion seemed to originate.

_I swear to God, why does nothing ever seem to go according to plan?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you again for your continued interest! Please let me know if you liked this chapter. :)


	6. And the Spirit Shall Be Released

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, thanks for all your lovely comments! ^_^ It’s greatly appreciated.

* * *

It didn’t take Beth long to find the source of the explosion – namely, one Michael Munroe, soot-stained and clutching a revolver, sprawled on the floor and watching the burning wreckage of one of the subterranean corridors with a dazed (and slightly concussed) expression.

“Mike!” Beth barked, fully out of patience at this point. _“What the fuck are you doing?”_

Mike looked around in confusion at the sound of her voice and upon seeing her ghostly form, blanched so white that it would have been funny if she weren’t so pissed off. “W-w-what the fuck,” he stuttered, scrambling backwards along the floor. “Beth, y-you’re –”

“Dead, yes, I fucking know,” Beth said acidly. “Thank you for bringing it to my fucking attention, Michael. Which is also thanks, in no small part, to the role you played in that stupid prank last year, but you’ll be glad to hear that your verbal beatdown for that will be delayed until further notice; namely until we sort out _all the fucking problems going on._ Like, for example, _why have you set fire to this fucking building?”_

Mike was still staring at her, chalk-white and stunned, but he seemed to respond almost automatically to her tone. “It was an accident! I was just trying to shoot the lock off the door and it sparked and some barrels of fuel caught fire –”

 “So you’re still a moron then.” Beth rolled her eyes. “Good to see some things never change. How did you even end up down here, doing stupid shit? Weren’t you and Jessica going off to indulge in marathon sex?”

“Jess – I – she –” Mike slumped a little further down, and Beth was shocked at the expression of aching _grief_ and miserable anger that crossed his face. “I – I – don’t know what happened. One minute we were fooling around, the next some psycho smashed the window and grabbed Jess, and I was running after them in the snow – and we ended up at these like dilapidated buildings that led into old mine tunnels and Jess – she fell –she fell into one of the mine shafts, and a bunch of beams and rubble fell down after her. I couldn’t find a way down to look, but I think – I think she’s dead.” His voice broke on the last word, and he took a deep breath, looking away as he rubbed roughly at his eyes.

“…Shit, I’m sorry Mike,” Beth murmured, stunned. Then her mind almost immediately flew to fate of dead or dying people on Blackwood Mountain and grimaced at the thought. _Fuck, we’re going to have to go looking for her right away, body and spirit both if necessary. Actually…_

“Did you see anyone else at all? In particular, an old guy with a scarf, goggles and a flamethrower tank?”

“What?” Mike looked up and frowned a little, distracted from his grief. “No – I mean, yes, I saw a guy, didn’t get a clear view of him – but who carries a freaking _flamethrower?_ I chased after him, because I thought he was the one who kidnapped Jess – who else could have? I lost him somewhere in the maze of tunnels though, and when I finally got outside, I saw this place and thought it was my best bet for where the guy had gone – so I came here, looking for answers.”

“And did you find them?” Beth arched an eyebrow at him. “Because I’m pretty sure it’s not so much a _who_ that killed Jess, but a _what_.”

“What? What do you mean?” Mike surged to his feet, still a little unsteady, but with a blazing fire in his eyes. Beth was momentarily taken aback; she was completely unused to Mike as anything other the charming, well-groomed and easy-going womaniser she had always known. This Mike, standing in front of her in only a filthy tank top and jeans, covered in dirt and blood and scratches, the mangled fingers of his left hand clutching a worn revolver, grief and rage in equal measure etched on his face – this Mike was almost completely foreign to her. And she kind of approved. With the layers of charming bullshit and deflection stripped away, he was raw and honest in a way suited him infinitely better.

_He actually seems like a **decent** human being like this. Shame it apparently takes trauma to bring it out in him._

“I can show you,” Beth replied slowly, eyeing him as she did so. “But first, let’s make a quick detour upstairs. I need to tell the others that it was only dear old Mike blowing up the building. After the evening they’ve had, such a mundane explanation is bound to be almost reassuring.”

“The others are here?” Mike looked startled as he glanced reflexively upwards.

Beth rolled her eyes and began leading him on the quickest route upstairs, explaining as she went and listening to his own description of exactly what had happened to him and Jess that night. It didn’t take them long to reach the chapel and there was a surge of exclamations, shouts of surprise as the group caught sight of Beth with Mike in tow.

“Fuck, Mike, what _happened_?” Matt gripped him by the shoulders, giving him a horrified once-over as the rest of the group crowded around.

“He lost a fight with a beartrap. And tried to blow up the building,” Beth deadpanned, unable to help herself.

Several voices rose in question at the same time, but before Mike could even begin to answer them, the doors to the chapel swung open, crashing into the walls with an echoing boom.

Beth turned to see Jack striding into the room, the wolves trotting at his heels, and a sarcastic comment about dramatic entrances was on the tip of her tongue – and then his grim, furious expression registered, along with the way the wolves were bristling and snarling, and most of all, the fact that the limp and bloodied form of Jessica lay cradled in his arms.

_“Jessica!”_ Mike’s cry echoed across the room and he surged forwards, his expression and tone a complicated snarl of aggression and accusation and grief all at the same time – before he was halted by Jack’s angry growl.

“Which one of you stupid _children_ set off a goddamn _explosion_ in the basement?! Part of the outer wall’s caved in, and the line of talismans is _broken_ –” 

A screaming, shrieking cry rang out from somewhere uncomfortably close by; everyone blanched, turning chalk white, apart from Jack and Beth who swore in unison. The high whining screech of claws scraping on glass made them all look up at the same time – and then then they all scattered with cries of panic as the skylight burst inwards, dropping a hail of glass and an undead monster into their midst.

Beth didn’t waste time, lunging forward towards the wendigo – her thoughts were a jagged tumble of _buy Jack time_ and _oh God don’t let anyone else die fuck please_ , but her body seemed to react almost on autopilot to the threat.

“ _Hey asshole!”_ she roared, as Jack all but shoved Jessica into Mike’s arms. The thing-that-was-once-Hannah screamed, skittering around to face her, just as Jack unhooked the flamethrower and swung the barrel up to point at the creature. It had barely taken a step towards her before a brilliant wave of fire burst across the room, engulfing it – it shrieked in fury and pain, ear-shatteringly loud, and tried to retreat, scuttling backwards, but Jack advanced relentlessly in its wake, keeping up a steady stream of fire.

The pain seemed to both madden and confuse it, and it twisted desperately, trying to escape the intense flames – but slowly, its movements seemed to grow weaker. Beth saw the exact moment when it finally succumbed, the blackened body collapsing to the floor, and a few moments later, Jack eased his finger off the trigger, allowing the fire to die away.

For a second the only sound was the frightened, ragged breathing of eight teenagers. Beth stared silently at the corpse, unsure what she was feeling. She’d never seen Jack kill a wendigo before – containment was his preferred method, because of the slight problem that killing the host body meant freeing the wendigo spirit to possess again – but this was Hannah’s body. Or it had once been.

_Her final death,_ Beth thought grimly, closing her eyes for a moment. _God, Hannah. Will this ever stop hurting?_

And then –

_Hold on. The spirit will be released –_

Beth opened her eyes, in time to see the omnipresent red light rising from beneath the charred corpse’s skin, and coalescing into the burning crimson outline of a wendigo, with eyes like empty black holes. It shrieked and juddered and writhed in place, and to Beth’s eyes, it looked as though it were resisting some kind of immense pull – she could see odd little threads of ghostly blue fire all of a sudden, glinting in the moonlight as they shimmered into being around the wendigo spirit.

The cries of shock from her friends and the curse from Jack told her she wasn’t the only one seeing the spirit, but as the Makkapitew turned its void-black eyes on her, she was suddenly struck with the realisation that, unlike the others, she was still in danger.

_“Fuck,”_ Beth swore, starting to back away.

“Run, girl!” Jack shouted as the wendigo spirit shifted, fiery limbs shuddering jaggedly as it fought the pull of the blue fire in order to skitter towards her –

A flash of silver caught her eye.

Despite herself, despite the danger, some instinct made Beth follow the movement, and she looked over in time to see a silvery incorporeal form rising from the corpse of the wendigo.

Battered and bruised, but blessedly whole, the spirit of Hannah Washington glanced up and met the eyes of her sister for the first time in just under a year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: …Surprise? xD
> 
> Thanks for reading guys! Please let me know what you thought :)


	7. Reunited, At Last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Here we go! The final chapter of An Inextinguishable Light, and thank you guys so much for sticking with it – I appreciate all of your interest in this story, which gave me the drive to finish it. ^_^

* * *

For a moment, all Beth could do was stare, her mind blank with absolute shock. “Hannah...?” she whispered, frozen in place. “Hannah, is that you?”

_I thought you were gone, swallowed up by the wendigo spirit, oh God Hannah you were there all along –_

Hannah looked a little dazed and confused, but as she looked around, blinking, her surroundings finally seemed to properly register – and a wide, happy smile spread over her face at the sight of her sister. “Beth!”  Then her expression changed to utter horror as she noticed the Makkapitew advancing on her twin. _“Beth!”_

There was a confused blur of movement, a flash so swift Beth could barely track it – but suddenly Hannah was in front of her, facing the Makkapitew, her stance furious and defensive. This close, Beth could see little wisps of the burning red energy still clinging to Hannah, but she had hardly registered them before they suddenly _flared_ , bursting out in a wave of malevolent energy – and at the same moment Hannah _screamed._

It sounded so like a wendigo’s shrieking scream that Beth instinctively leapt back, despite _knowing_ that it was Hannah making the noise; the Makkapitew halted in its tracks, clearly startled, by the unexpected sensation and noise coming from what should have felt and sounded like prey.

And that moment of lost concentration proved vital to the struggle between the wendigo and the threads of shimmering blue fire. They pulled taut, flaring with muted ghostly light and the Makkapitew let out a scream of its own, a distinctly frustrated and enraged sound, before succumbing to the pull and dissolving into an amorphous cloud of ethereal red energy. It funnelled down through the floor, phasing through the ground in the direction the threads pulled; at the same time the little wisps of red energy were drawn from Hannah’s form, following the Makkapitew down through the floor, and a second later, the blue fire winked out of existence.

Silence fell.

Beth was distantly aware of their utterly shocked audience of living humans, but for a moment, all she could see was her sister, as Hannah turned to face her.

Her twin’s spirit was undeniably worse for wear, oddly faded and worn-looking in places; if she’d been alive, Beth would have said she looked like she was recovering from a long-term illness. Nonetheless, her dark eyes shone with light and her smile was wide and bright. “ _Beth,”_ she said again, her voice choked, as she reached out _and took her sister’s hand._

Beth froze. The touch was light and still mostly insubstantial – but more solid than any interaction she had ever with the living world. And it was _Hannah,_ Hannah was holding her hand, Hannah who she’d thought was gone forever –

She threw her arms around her twin, drawing her into a fierce hug. “ _Fucking hell,_ Hannah,” she muttered, her eyes burning with tears she was no longer capable of shedding. “ _Don’t ever fucking do that to me again_ , you hear? Because I’m not afraid to haunt your ass for all of fucking eternity.”

Hannah gave a choked laugh as she hugged her back, burying her face into her sister’s neck. “Love you too, Beth,” she whispered.

“…Love you too, Hannah.”

xxx

In the end, it was Jack who restored a semblance of order.

He recovered first and started barking orders in his usual gruff way at the shell-shocked teenagers, who followed said orders in a dazed state at first, and then with more focus as their tasks gave them purpose.

Within an hour, the line of talismans had been restored, all the doors into the sanatorium and the chapel had been locked and barred, and a fire had been rekindled in the massive fireplace. Blankets were pulled out of cupboards, a massive pot of coffee was brewed and an extensively stocked first aid kit was fetched, mainly for Mike and Jessica.

Jessica woke up mid-way through having her wounds swabbed with disinfectant and screamed bloody murder, terrified and disorientated – chaos had reigned until Mike had managed to calm her down, curling around her on one of the old battered sofas and holding her tightly as she clung to him, sobbing in remembered terror.

After everyone calmed down again and everything had grown quiet, there was time enough for talking. (“None of you idiots are going anywhere until dawn,” Jack said firmly. “Then, you’re all gonna get off this mountain and never come back, y’hear?”)

Beth wasn’t sure exactly what Hannah said to the others; they spoke to everyone individually, and separately, but she was willing to bet her twin’s conversations were every bit as emotionally fraught as hers. There was a varying degree of guilt and anger in every exchange, alongside the grief and gladness, running the gamut from Ashley’s floods of tears and constant stream of apologies, to Emily’s terse words, on the surface rather unfeeling, but with genuine regret written on her face and plain in her dark eyes.  

And then there was her conversations with Chris and Sam and Josh, uncomplicated in that regard, but paradoxically full of both grief and joy, for the chance to speak again, but also to say goodbye.

(“I don’t think we’ll be able to stay for much longer,” Hannah had said mournfully, when Chris had raised the tentative question right at the start about returning to Blackwood to visit the twins at some point, voicing the painful longing obvious in Josh’s eyes. “I can feel it now that I’m not trapped anymore. Can’t you, Beth?”

And she had, as soon as Hannah had spoken and drawn her attention to it. An odd pulling sensation, not unlike what she imagined the Makkapitew had felt, except that it was gentle and insistent instead of painful. There were no threads of blue fire either, and no urge to dive underground; just an intangible, unquantifiable _tug_ , pulling her… elsewhere.)

The moment when she finally, _finally_ met Sam’s eyes, without distractions or the threat of imminent death, felt like it was a long damn time coming. “Soooo,” Beth said eventually, grinning. “What’s new? Anything interesting happen in the world in the last year?”

Sam laughed, her voice breaking a little part way through. “Oh, you know, the usual.” Her tone fell just a little short of casual. “The aliens finally invaded – turns out you were right and they were hiding on Mars all along, just biding their time.”

“Yes! I knew all those late night drunk-and-high alien conspiracy chats couldn’t possibly be wrong,” Beth cheered, playing along just to see the moment when Sam genuinely started laughing, even as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“God, Beth, I’ve missed you so much.” Sam’s smile was luminous, bright with elation and lingering sadness both.

“Fucking same.” Beth sat down and smiled back at the blonde woman. “It’s about time we had a catch-up.”

And they did. Beth spoke to Sam for a long time, about everything and nothing, and in the end, finally broached the subject of what had been between them for a long time. “You know I loved you,” Beth said, as bluntly as she wished had had the courage to do in real life, watching Sam’s eyes widen in surprise. “Still do actually, and likely always will.”

“Beth,” Sam whispered, as her shock dissolved into pain, pain for opportunities lost. “I – I love you too – oh fuck, why were we so _stupid!_ ”

“’Cause we’re stupid teenagers and we thought we were immortal?” Beth questioned, grinning. “Well – I mean, _I’m_ immortal now, obviously, but I’m an immortal soul so I don’t think it’s quite the same –”

“Oh shut up, Beth,” Sam laughed a little, even as she swiped tears from her eyes. “Ah fuck, this is stupid.”

“Yeah. And speaking of stupid –” Beth glanced meaningfully across the room, to where her siblings were sitting together, Hannah chattering with bright eyes and a beaming smile and Josh looking at her like a blind man seeing the world for the first time, tears trickling unabashedly down his face. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the only Washington you have the hots for, Giddings. And I’d hate to see that squandered out of stupidity, obliviousness, or worst of all, some weird mishmash of lingering guilt and loyalty to my memory.”

“Bethany Washington!” Sam spluttered, starting to laugh. “Are you actually trying to set me up with your brother after we’ve just confessed our undying love?”

“Yes,” Beth said empathically, flapping her hands at her. “Because you’ve got a big old heart, Samantha Giddings and I’d hate to see you and Josh unhappy for such a fucking stupid reason – so consider this my blessing, you idiots. I don’t mind sharing,” she added, with a wink and a leer, as Sam groaned and then laughed.

“Oh God, Beth, don’t make this anymore fucking weird than it already is!”

Her conversation with Josh lasted even longer, carrying them pretty much all the way to dawn. Her brother was a complete mess, putting it mildly, and she decided to open their conversation with her usual mixture of sisterly love, care and blunt honesty. “Josh, you know I love you to bits – but too far with the fucking serial killer prank, man. Although the fake body stuffed with pig guts was a nice touch, you’ve always had an eye for detail and shit.”

Josh laughed until he cried and then cried some more, throughout which Beth held onto him as much as her limited tangibility allowed, and rambled about anything and everything that came into her head. (Starting with the fact that neither she nor Hannah blamed him for their deaths, “Get that through your thick skull, Josh!”) 

Eventually his tears ran out and he began replying to her as best as he was able through a clogged nose and throat, his voice thick and hoarse. The conversation gradually turned back towards the prank and Beth levelled her brother with a stern look. “Speaking of which – Josh, I saw the files in your workshop. You need to go see another psychiatrist; I know you don’t like Dr Hill, but hell, go find someone else. I know you got frustrated, but you need _to keep trying_ , keep trying to find someone who can figure out the right combination of meds for you. It was fucking agony to watch you suffering for all that time, and not be able to _say_ anything. Please Josh – I know it’s hard, but promise me you’ll keep trying.”

Josh nodded, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “I promise, Beth.” His voice was a hoarse rasp, but the sincerity in it was obvious. Around them, the others were starting to gather their things, Jack organising them as dawn broke over the horizon, and Beth leaned forward to whisper in Josh’s ear, her words masked by the sudden activity.

“Good,” she said, a hint of mischief colouring her words. “And I doubt you’ll have to do it alone, since I’ve given the lovely blonde lady we’re both enamoured with my blessing to court you.”

Josh inhaled in shock, his eyes going wide, and promptly choked; Beth immediately dissolved into laughter, while Josh glared at her through his coughing fit. “Fuck’s sake, Beth,” he finally managed to wheeze.

“Love you, Josh,” she said, grinning affectionately at her brother.

His expression softened almost immediately, sadness and humour obvious in equal measure. “Love you too, Beth.”

xxx

The final goodbyes were said not long after that, with many lingering backwards glances (especially from Sam and Josh) cast back at the ethereal forms of the twins standing in the doorway of the sanatorium.

Beth and Hannah watched the small gaggle of teenagers (shepherded by one wendigo hunter and two wolves) head back down the mountain, until they turned into vague smudges in the distance, and then completely disappeared from sight.

As if on cue, the sisters turned to look at each other. “Do you want to wait for Jack to come back before we go?” Hannah asked, smiling.

“Nah,” Beth grinned. “I’ve already said my goodbyes to him too.”

(“So thanks for letting me bunk at your place, old man, and for putting up with me being your annoying poltergeist roommate. By the way, it _was_ actually me that rearranged your sock drawer, because I’ve never seen someone so hilariously obsessed with matching socks – sorry, not sorry,” she had said, grinning like mad.

“No shit. I didn’t think it was the _wolves_ that did it, girl,” he had replied witheringly. Then, grudgingly, he added, “You’re welcome, I suppose. Your company wasn’t _completely_ god-awful – I’ve had worse. Good luck with your afterlife too, or whatever the hell it is that comes next.”

“If I could hug you, old man, I would,” Beth had told him, serious but still grinning. “I mean it. None of this could have happened without you.” 

He had only rolled his eyes and grumbled in a vaguely embarrassed way, while Beth had laughed, more than a little giddy at how well everything had turned out and at the same time amused as hell by how badly Jack handled compliments.)

“That’s good. Though…Beth, before we go…” Hannah bit her lip and looked down, misery and guilt stealing across her face. “I have to tell you – I – I’m so sorry –”

“Stop,” Beth said firmly, already aware of where this was going. “It’s okay Hannah –”

“It’s not okay!” Hannah burst out, jerking her head up to look at her twin. “Beth, I _ate_ you –”

Beth caught her sister’s wildly gesturing hand and used it to tug her in close for a hug. “Don’t,” she said, “Be ridiculous. I was there when it happened. I know why you did it, and I forgave you pretty much as soon as it happened. Okay?”

Hannah shook her head against Beth’s shoulder. “I don’t deserve a sister like you,” she whispered, sounding like she would be crying if she could. “But I’m glad you don’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you,” Beth said firmly, stepping back a little but still holding onto Hannah’s shoulders so she could look her twin directly in the eye. “You’re my sister, I love you, and a little bit of cannibalism isn’t going to change that.”

She winked and Hannah made a choking noise, half-amused, half-appalled. “Beth!”

“Well, it’s true.” Beth’s tone was purposefully breezy. “And with that, maybe we should get this show on the road?”

“Oh, okay.” Hannah nodded, straightening up and making an obvious effort to compose herself. “Time to go, then?” she asked nervously, unable to keep from rocking a little on her heels.

“Yeah, I reckon so.” Beth reached out to take her sister’s hand, giving her an encouraging grin; Hannah settled back onto her feet, her nerves fading as she squeezed Beth’s hand back.

“Okay. Okay.” Hannah took a deep breath and smiled back at Beth.

Then, simultaneously, they stopped resisting the pull, the tug urging them on, relaxed – and let go.

There was a brief, indescribable moment; a weightless instant, like falling and flying, like leaping into the blackest void and incandescent light at the same time –

 – and the Washington twins stepped forward, leaving the world as they entered it. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Aaaaannd that’s a wrap! xD Thank you guys for your patience in waiting for this fic for so long and supporting it regardless. Hopefully I delivered on the happy-ish ending – at the very least Beth and Hannah are together, everyone survived the mountain and Josh left in a much better state than he arrived in. :)
> 
> Again, thank you for your support, and please let me know if you enjoyed this final chapter. ^_^
> 
> P.S. Also, just to clear up a few things in case you’re wondering; the blue fire that pulled the Makkapitew underground was in fact the influence of the mountain itself. I like to headcanon the mountain as having a sort of sentience, and I noticed in-game that whenever you kill a wendigo and release its spirit, it seems to head back underground/back into the mines – so I decided that in this ghost!verse, the mountain itself draws the wendigo spirit back underground, into mines, and into a sort of semi-dormancy until another suitable host body comes along.
> 
> Hannah is not still under the influence of the Makkapitew. Strands of its power still clinging to her, along with familiarity with its nature after a year of body-sharing, allows her successfully mimic the sound and sensation of a wendigo for a few seconds, but that’s all.
> 
> The whole thing with Beth feeling the tug to move on after Hannah is freed too, comes from the classical ghost thing of not being able to move on because of unfinished business – namely in this case, being unable to move on because some part of her couldn’t accept the fact that Hannah was truly gone and still wanted to help her sister. (That part turned out to more accurate than she gave it credit for. xD) The ‘unfinished business’ expanded to including helping her friends and her brother (especially Josh) move on from her and Hannah’s deaths after she witnessed what the grief had done to him.  
> I also chose not write out Hannah and Beth’s conversations with everyone in full about the prank last year, because dear God, that would have sixteen separate conversations. 0_o I decided to streamline it instead, and focus on the three that had the most significance to Beth and who she’d been most heavily concentrated on throughout the story (aka, Sam, Josh and Hannah).
> 
> P.P.S. If you’re interested in the sort of themes in this story, I’ve got a two-part UD story going up relatively soon (within a week or two) that focuses on a slightly different universe, where Hannah’s spirit is freed from her wendigo body after the Makkapitew dies /is released when the lodge fire happens at the end of the game – and then Hannah’s spirit is sent back in time by the mountain to her old body on the night of the prank one year previously. ^_^


End file.
